I have a 2 vintage square neck style 1 tricones with the hollow necks, and a new wood-body National M-3 tricone with a solid neck. They are all wonderful instruments.

The vintage ones have a little more output from the grill area, which I assume includes the sound from the hollow neck.

The new one has more sound from the cones.

Given that the price of the vintage ones can be less than the new ones, I would try to get one of those!

Let me know if you have further questions...

Peter

Lee Holliday

From:United Kingdom

Posted 8 Nov 2017 10:31 pm

My 36 Hollowneck is currently in the workshop with it,s fingerboard off, I am having the seams re soldered as there is a dry joint which needs TLC.

Anyway to the point the neck is full of wood up to about the 12th fret.I understand the modern ones were re-engineered and it was hollow.

Here are some photos showing the process of removing the fingerboard and what lurks below

Lee

Ron Ellison

From:D.C.

Posted 9 Nov 2017 5:26 am

Yeah, the vintage Nats are not really hollow.
I have a NRP hollowneck, and it has something like “struts” going perpendicular to the neck. I feel it has a slightly different tone, more full, more acoustic resonance, sounds better to me in C6th, and I don’t blast away on the strings. I love the guitar!

Joe Burke

From:Toronto, Canada

Posted 10 Nov 2017 6:12 am

Thanks for the info.

I have a recent National tricone with a wook neck. It sounds amazing, but I also really like the hollow neck. I’ll continue to keep my eye out for one.

Steve Lipsey

From:Portland, Oregon, USA

Posted 11 Nov 2017 1:15 pm

I had a long talk with Marc Schoenberger, the recognized guy for this stuff - repairs Nationals, says he worked with Don Young at National in the design of the new hollow necks, his shop is next door to National....

He says that the old ones were mostly filled with scrap wood and only a little hollow, but that the new ones have a different neck structure and can support a real hollow neck. BUT he also says that, unlike a Weissenborn, where the neck is a big part of the space, a National has so much air in the body that a little more in the neck has no real impact on the sound...

I've owned a 1932 style 3 and currently have a 1928 Style 1, and they both sound great...but both were set up fairly recently by experts.

Marc has a real preference for the new ones, mostly because he says that the old ones usually have deteriorated with age, and need work to sound right...I think he mainly was referring to wooden neck instruments, which need neck resets a lot, but maybe other stuff also._________________www.facebook.com/swingaliband
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2016 National Scheerhorn Tricone Prototype 001
2015 National M1 Tricone
1928 National Style 1 Tricone

Mike Neer

From:NJ

Posted 11 Nov 2017 5:12 pm

In a previous life, National tricones meant the world to me. It's been so long that I've had and played one, but they still resonate for me. _________________'Steelonious' on Bandcampmikeneer.com

Steve Lipsey

From:Portland, Oregon, USA

Posted 11 Nov 2017 10:19 pm

I'm a recent convert...never played one till recently, and now I've sold everything else and only have National tricones...as John Dopyera said, music from tricones flows like water...he tried every number of cones from 1 to 4 and then built only tricones until economics forced them to offer a single cone instrument...mine is from 1928, when he still ran the factory...and a couple of newer ones...
_________________www.facebook.com/swingaliband
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2016 National Scheerhorn Tricone Prototype 001
2015 National M1 Tricone
1928 National Style 1 Tricone

Ron Ellison

From:D.C.

Posted 13 Nov 2017 3:10 pm

I agree with the article, which must've been written a few years ago.
Strike a note, and I can hear it go down the hallway...
there is more echo-ish decay than a vintage Nat.
If you want one better get on the phone and order before they decide to not to make any more. As of last year they were only going to build out the stamped metal they had on hand. (for that shape).
--Ever check out Fine resophonics "hollowneck"?
not totally sure if it's completely hollow!!
Has a real nice tone to it!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgY_--15_jE